In the United States there are a number of individuals that hunt deer and other wild game. It is a common practice of these hunters to place a feed source in the vicinity of the area to be hunted so as to have a more favorable chance of game passing through their field of vision. One method of providing a feeding attraction for the deer is the planting of food plots by the hunter. Such food plots are expensive in consideration of time and money while the hunter is reliant upon weather conditions for the success of the food plot. Furthermore, such food plots cannot always be placed at the optimum location for attracting the wild game and are not movable with changes in the travel patterns of the deer.
Another popular approach is the placing of purchased foods and attractants at desirable locations. The placement of concentrated attractants requires less effort and cost when compared to the food plot and are easily moved based on the travel patterns of the deer. Historically, there have been laws restricting the use of such attractants with regards to the time of year and location. In recent years these laws have been relaxed or eliminated due to the rapid growth of the deer population. Consequently, the use of attractant foods has increased in popularity. Hunters currently purchase bags of whole corn for their game attracting sites from commercial stores such as Wal-Mart, Tractor Supply, and True Value Hardware. Access to such suppliers is not always available when the hunter desires to make a purchase due to their operating hours and seasonal availability. Furthermore, the referenced vendors deliver the corn in fixed size disposable bags thereby increasing the unit cost.
A corollary problem exists for the “on-demand” vending of canine food for domestic as well as hunting dogs. Domestic keeping of canines is well established with a supply of canine food delivered through the same form of vendors as listed previously as well as grocery stores. The issues stated above with regard to accessibility and unit price are applicable and thereby restricting the purchaser of canine foods.
A corollary need for on-demand ice vending has produced a successful vending system of ice by unattended standalone systems. The availability of on-demand ice vending machines has grown widely in popularity and usage during the past decade. These ice vending machines are unique in that they only require water and electricity to produce ice and are continuously accessible to the customer. These vending systems typically fill a bag of ice on request and only require attention for bag replacement, removal of the tendered coins, and periodic maintenance.
In contrast to the on-demand ice vending, on-demand vending of particulate consumables, such as corn, will require a resupply system. The poultry growing industry has developed an economical and readily available feed supply system. Specifically, the raising of poultry as a food supply has led to the development of an industry for the storage, processing and delivery of feed corn to the poultry grow-houses. These centralized systems are more economical due to storage and handling of the feed corn when compared to each of the grow-houses storing a year's supply of feed corn whether purchased or grown by the grow-house. The centralized feed corn distribution unit purchases the feed corn in bulk, processes, treats, and stores it for the delivery to the grow-houses. The delivery of the feed corn is accomplished using transport vehicles with integrated equipment for moving the feed corn into a storage bin located at the grow-house. The periodic delivery of the feed corn is scheduled per the requirement of the poultry as they grow.
Accordingly, there is a need for a reliable system for the economical “on-demand” delivery of dry particulate consumable such as attractant corn and canine food.
However, in view of the prior art at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be fulfilled.